Council members renege on promise to give up a week's pay

Many promised part of pay to help budget

4:47 AM,
Oct. 7, 2012

City of Louisville seal.

Written by

Dan Klepal
| The Courier-Journal

Facing a $23 million deficit in his first budget, Mayor Greg Fischer last spring announced a furlough program that aimed to save $1.2 million by having some city employees take a week of unpaid leave.

The mayor was counting on most of that savings, $1 million, to come from employees voluntarily participating in the program to help balance the budget and avoid layoffs in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Almost immediately, Metro Council members, whom the mayor could not compel to take a week off the city payroll, started signing up. Fischer himself took a week's furlough. ...